Patrick Stickles is at home on the road

Lifestyle isn't for everyone, he says

November 21, 2012|By Allison Stewart, Special to the Tribune

It's hard out there for a blog-famous, hipster-beloved semi-rock star. Patrick Stickles fronts one of the best bands in America, the titanic punk rock outfit Titus Andronicus, but it isn't much of a living. Before launching a tour in support of his band's sharp new disc, "Local Business," Stickles was living with his parents in New Jersey, like a common blogger.

Keeping bandmates has proved just as difficult. Stickles, the sole constant member, has cycled through too many to count, and "Local Business" marks the first time the musicians on the album and on the tour are all the same people.

On the phone from Los Angeles, Stickles talked about his band, that time he got electrocuted (It was in rehearsal. He's fine now) and the loneliness of the long-distance musician. Here's an edited transcript of the conversation.

Q: So where are you living these days?

A: The road is my only home. It's the only place I can call my own.

Q: You lost some band members in the past because they didn't want a lifestyle where they were always (on the road), sleeping on the floors of stranger's houses.

A: Some people, yeah. The lifestyle is not for everybody. Some members of the band in the past have wanted lives of greater sustainability. It's tough going. It's hard living out here. Some people go for it, some people don't. You can't hold that against anybody.

Q: You've said in the past that all you wanted was your own apartment. How can you not have that by now?

A: I don't have a lot of money. But I'm not very responsible, anyway. Even if I had a ton of money, who knows if I'd be able to take care of my own living spaces? There's not a lot of money involved (in Titus Andronicus). I make enough to eat but not much more.

Q: It's been said that you're a bigger cult hero than any indie rock star since Conor Oberst. True?

A: I think that's putting it a little too strongly. I'm not a superstar like he is. He's got a real thing going on. I remain just a normal guy.

Q: That may have been in reference to the attention that's paid to your words, (the intense way your lyrics) are scrutinized.

A: The words are important. I spend a lot of time thinking about them. They have value, I hope. Or I intended for them to. You don't want to just say the same old stuff — baby, baby, yeah, yeah, dance all night.

Q: Do you remember the first song you wrote?

A: I wrote a song when I was 12 or, I guess, 13, about working at the recycling center in town, which is something I did during the summer. It was pretty bad. It was angsty. It was not a celebration of the job.

Q: Do you still read every review of your band?

A: I've fallen off recently, but I do often get obsessed with it. I take it too much to heart, in fact. I get confused and mixed up and I get my priorities all out of order by doing it. It's very bad. It's not something I should do. I should forget about the critics and just think about the kids. Because it's for the kids, it's not for the critics. As long as the kids are having fun, I should be a very happy man. And the kids are having fun. I mean, the kids who come to the concerts.

Q: The good reviews may be worse for a person to read, in a way.

A: I don't take the good reviews too seriously. The bad reviews always seem on the mark to me, and the good ones seem misguided. … I wasn't made to be reviewed. I was just meant to be loved.

Q: You wrote a song about being electrocuted ("[I Am the] Electric Man"). Now you have to talk about it in every interview you do.

A: Yeah, that's true, but that's the bed I've made for myself.

Q: Have there been any lasting effects?

A: No, it wasn't really that big of a deal. It was mostly just a big surprise. I kind of went into shock a little bit, no pun intended. … It didn't make my hair stand on end or anything like that. It was just a little zap.